Gee

So slight change of plans. I don't have a warning light. I was right about the green and red wire but it goes to the ignition switch. sometimes this has a warning light in line but mine does not. The diagram below is from Motortrend for wiring a Ford 3G alternator but it is basically the same. It seems I can still wire it up without the bulb but I've got to work out how exactly. I may just 1 wire it and connect the rest later.  

Finally got a new alternator, an Aeroflow AF4273-1100 100A 

I'll be hooking this up '3-wire' which uses the warning light  as an exciter and removing the stock external regulator. This gives me more ergs for upgrades later and the 3-wire hookup apparently makes it come on charge quicker. I may need to check the warning light later to see if it has a bypass resistor as without this the alternator will fail to come online if the bulb is blown.

I was originally going to use the stock wiring but decided to bin it as it was untidy and would not carry enough current if I start to draw more than the stock power. The car also does not have alternator or battery fuses so I might add them later too but I want to work out a tidy install before I do that. I got it wired up on the bench and then looked at the car.

First I took out the old regulator so I could work out what wires to remove

They were buried in the main loom and used a wired molded plastic thingo you can just see in the last photo. Pain in the arse as I couldn't separate the wires without cutting this off.

The loom was wire spaghetti so I also removed all of the wires from the started solenoid which is pretty much used as a positive terminal for everything.   

the wires I have are

Black and yellow - power supply to fuse box

Yellow - ammeter

red - ammeter

Red and blue - Starter switch

Brown - odd extra wire to the solenoid that shorts it out. Was disconnected but can't quite work out what it does. Something to do with the coil and starting but not needed

Black and red - ?

Orange - regulator (removed)

I could have thing wrong, the info online is a bit iffy and it changes with the year. I think the red/green wire from the regulator is the warning light but I can't confirm that. Might need a battery and a spare pair of eyes.

Having some figures to compare would be great, thanks.

Looking back through your Mustang thread it looks like you had fumes before you fitted the FiTech. Have you checked for vacuum leaks and ignition timing? I'm no expert on tuning so I'm just plucking from the internet. I probably need to check the same in mine. Like everything else I look at on my car it is old and probably not maintained unless it proper broke so I'm playing catch up.

i also just looked at your alternator as I need a new one. Any issues with it coming online when you start up? Does your charge (belts) light still work correctly? The last time I fitted a bigger alternator I replaced a factory Bosch 55A with an almost identical Bosch 120A. The only issue I had (which seems common with 1-wire alternators) was it needed a blip on the throttle to come online initially. My ammeter doesn't work anyway or it would have picked up the overcharging or shown charging when I first jumped it so I may as well disconnect it.

I think I might know what the starting problem is...

Pretty sure that should be something over 12VDC. Charged it for another 24hrs with it disconnected from the car and still 9.8V. This has dropped at least one cell, probably shorted since it had none volts before I charged it.

I haven't checked the alternator voltage but I'll get a new battery and check it then. The car could still have a short draining the battery but easy enough to check if there is current draw when I fit the new one.

I'm not sure what my settings were but I didn't think it was that stable. I'm used to my Fairmont which was a mile muncher. It was really easy to drive and quite stable at speed. The Mustang sits fine on the motorway but I found it a bit twitchy on the back roads to New Plymouth. That was probably why I was wanting to look at the steering again as it did require a bit of correction. They said they deviated from normal Mustang settings due to having wide radial tyres. I think that is just a camber thing but castor and toe will hold is straight, but I'm just guessing there. They did say to come back after 1000 km to get the settings checked.

What tuning did you do on the EFI? Mine ran really well from first start but I got a dyno (no tune) and it picked up 10kw after the first pull. It tuned itself from running through the RPM range. The Mustang doesn't have that yet but it is better than the Fairmont with a blown power valve.

Just play. It feels like a notch where it moves and you feel a little clunk in the hand before it moves. It does make sense that the shaft will need to move slightly before the power valve is engaged. It does not feel like an issue with ball joints or normal steering play.

Hi Flash,

did you fix your steering clunk? I have basically done the same fix on my steering as the hydraulic stuff was all shagged. There is no play in mine at low speed and smooth lock to lock but at 60mph on the motorway it clunks back and forth in the centre. It will do this in high speed corners too which is slightly unnerving but as the power valve has to move 5mm before the hydraulics assist I'm not sure if this is normal. I don't have another one to compare.

I have the opposite issue to you with fumes. Stopped at idle it is pretty good, just normal carby stuff. At high speed with the main windows cracked it get a bit fumey but just using the front quarter windows it is ok. I think for mine I just need to check the tune to clean up the tailpipe.

have you tried going lock to lock? As the power valve moves the lines move as well. No different from you original setup but I hit the chassis rail on one side and the header on the other.

The power steering looks familiar. My lines looked older than yours but were in really good condition apart from being burnt on the header. My new lines look exactly the same as yours, standard aftermarket I guess. I am still a bit paranoid about burning and melting the lines so I added fire sleeve. Clearance for the lines is a prick. I also had to replace my power valve and ram as both were stuffed.

I never did answer your question about the alternator. I think it was a single wire technically as the extra wires were for the electric choke not excitation or regulation. I have heard since that single wire alternators sometimes don't come online without a few revs. My current setup gives me the 'belts' light until blipped a few times.

I disconnected the fuel tank line and got the expected run of fuel down my arm, in the eye, etc. Plenty coming out there. Disconnected the filter and blasted the line out with Contact Cleaner. Not sure if any gunk came out but plenty of fuel there too. If fuel was getting to the engine bay but not getting drawn in surely it is the pump.

Got a new Carter mechanical pump for $54 and decided to throw it in.

That is the view down. Bit of a prick to get at and can't swing a spanner in there so off came the power steering pump.

As with everything this was also a bit of a prick. The top attachment is a threaded rod with a nylock nut. The whole rod came out so hopefully it would go back in. Later problem.

Next came the fuel lines, easy enough from below.

Then the pump itself. For some reason it had a 9/16" and a 5/8" bolt because of course it did. Cleaned up the mounting face as much as possible and had a look inside.

Some v8's have a extra pushrod on the cam for the pump and it will drop out and end up in the oil pan if you don't secure it first. Hopefully mine does not. I did look up a few videos of 289/302 pump replacements and they didn't mention it so hopefully I'm good. If not, engine out.

New pump went in much easier than I thought. I got the lever under the cam and managed to get the bolts started then wound them in slowly to seat the pump. Again hope I haven't caused an issue but I'll find out.

I managed the get the power steering pump back in ok but it is probably a bit loose, again later problem. The battery is on a regen cycle so once that is finished I'll give it a crank and see if it goes. I did notice when actuating the old pump that air seemed to be coming out the side so it could have a dud diaphragm. Hopefully that was the problem and I'm good to go now. I'm saying hopefully a lot in this post.

I got the tail shaft back from the shop so I thought that was a 5 min job and the car would be back on the ground and driveable. Wrong again.

The 'new' shaft is made from a second hand Falcon drive shaft. 1.75" tube, second hand yoke and new unis and bearings. It is heaps lighter than the old one and pretty much everything was unusable on the old one. The new one is also about 25mm longer which it needs.

I climbed under to slip it in and got this far...

I tapped it back out to check it and the spline is exactly the same as the old one but without the extra 30mm or so of counterbored part. Basically it should fit better than the old one but does not. At the back I have this...

I measured both ends and the 35mm gap shown is pretty much what I need to get it in. Once fitted it will have a good amount of back and forth.

Talking to the shop he said the problem is likely due to the second hand yoke being twisted which is why it is hard to fit and remove. The old one slips right in. We'll either replace the yoke or counter bore it so it fits. It will depend on getting enough engagement.

I refitted the old shaft and got it back on the ground so it was at least driveable. I went to start it to take it for a test drive aaand, nothing. Cranks but wont light off. I put my hand under the fuel filter and it came away covered in varnish so I thought a new filter was a way to go. I got a nice new filter from Repco, cheap and see through so I could see if there was gas.

Looks nice and clean. I'd prefer full of gas but. So I either have a blockage or dud pump. Either could happen as the car sat for ages before I bought it so the tank will be full of crap. It runs well normally though.

Decided to use some spare time to replace the shocks. Should be easy I thought.

Car was on axle stands anyway and I had front spring perches and top bushes so I thought I'd remove the springs and do them at the same time.

Spent ages trying to compress the spring to get it out. Tried jacking the car to compress it so I could just hold it with the compressors but that just jacked the whole car. One hour of swearing and frustration and I was knackered, so I gave up on the springs and just did the shocks.

30min later both were done.

I then went to try the rear but I need a 1/2" long reach socket which I don't have so I gave up on that too. All the rear bushes need doing so I'll just get a pro for that.

Finished the sound deadening. 

There was a bit of red stuff under the drivers feet, and no original sound insulation. I'm picking there was a bit of a leak so they removed the insulation but didn't treat anything.

I gave this a wire brush and sprayed some rust converter. I didn't have any POR or Brunox so I just sprayed some primer and flat black. Didn't take a photo.

The passenger side still had the original sound insulation

Ripped it out again and this side was much cleaner than the drivers side

A couple of mats and tape and it is now all covered except under the front seats.

Whipped the tailshaft out and got it to the drive shaft shop.

Below is the front yoke (with dodgy extra section welded in) I can't remember whether this is drooped or ride height.

The drive shaft is probably second hand and was probably fitted and possibly lengthened after the the car was un-lowered. It is a 3" tube with a 2 1/4" section at the rear yoke connected in via a rubber joint. I hadn't noticed it so didn't take a photo but the driveshaft guy pointed it out.

Chucked in a bung to stop loosing the fluid, thanks whoever made that suggestion.

Not sure what I'll end up with. It will need to be MASSIVE to take all the TORQUE from the 289 though. It will likely depend on what yokes and tubes the driveshaft shop can get. It was also suggested that we lengthen it by 15-20mm as he likes to only have 25mm extra gap at ride height. Hopefully I can drop down to 2.75" tube to save a bit of weight since I don't need 3" tube which is a bit chunky.

Finished up on the sound deadening in the rear. Just worked with the carpet pulled back. Dynamat is much easier to use than I thought. Got it all laid nicely and then put the underlay back on top.

I then had a go at refitting the chrome trim around the drip rail. I used a bit of Dow Corning 4 silicon grease on the rail and it slipped on reasonably easily. 

The right hand side did not play the game nicely though. I could get it on in places but not all the way and didn't want to smash it on. I think the thickness of the paint makes a bit of a difference I may try again later or just get my panel guy to give me a hand for 5 min. (or 30s probably)

Side with no chrome:

I also jacked up the car and measured the driveshaft. It is about 35-40mm between the spider and the diff yoke once disconnected and pushed fully forward (at ride height) which I think is about right. I just need to check if the driveshaft guy can make a new one minus the extra welds and dodgyness. With it up in the air it is less than 5min to get it out so easy job.

Next step is the underlay and sound deadening. I took out the rear underlay and it has what looks like the factory sound deadening. Sort of a rubbery mat with hessian type insulation.

The underlay felt a bit damp from being there a while so is airing. I ripped out the sound deadener as I have new dynamat to use and the old stuff is degraded. I also wanted to check on the condition of the floor so up it came.

Peeled out really easy so it would have been doing something but not as effective as it should have been. The floors though are mint

Bit of brown in the seams but for what is probably 55 year old paint and no real rust in the floor. Sweet. Ideally I need the seats out to fully remove the carpet but I may just work around them as there is actually a double floor in that area, I assume that is the seam you can see left of the above pic. The nuts are in the upper skin through a small hole in the main shell but with long bolts so I need a really long reach socket to get over the bolt and get the nut off. A standard short socket like mine will never get them off.

Got the new regulator for the rear windows and I initially thought the originals were not too bad  until I sat them side by side. One of these things is not like the other one. The regulator on the other side was missing its rollers so easy to see why they didn't work.

Fitted the new regulators and gave them a test.

Windows go up, windows go down.

Annoyingly but hand is that they don't interfere with the inertia reels at all.

Tons of room. Handy as I can have windows and belts. Annoying as I pissed about for ages trying to gain more room for them and now have a locked LH (drivers side) inertia reel that is unusable when I could have left it alone, done nothing but fit new regulators and no problem bro. Fuckit.